A breakdown of the Hernandez suit against the NFL may be their toughest challenge yet if it can clear a couple of hurdles the NFL has tossed in its path. Read our breakdown of the dueling briefs that stand to determine the scope of the NFL’s liability to the public…and to a small child who …

“Aaron Hernandez should be sitting in a therapeutic hospital receiving care for a profound brain injury. Instead, his ashes sit with his family. Suicide appears to be another result of C.T.E.” Those words were written in a New York Times op-ed authored by two law professors shortly after news of Aaron Hernandez’s severe Stage 3 CTE pathology was revealed in September 2017—news that shook the megalithic football industry to its core. As his daughter seeks justice, dueling briefs, filed on October 16 will likely determine her likelihood of finding it.

On October 16, 2017 Shayanna Jenkins Hernandez filed a loss of parental consortium lawsuit in Massachusetts Superior Court against three NFL entities and helmet maker Riddell on behalf of her daughter, Avielle. Two potentially important court filings last week bring the case back into focus.